Hercules: Authorities ID woman who died in crash on Highway 4

HERCULES -- A woman who died after rear-ending a van while driving on Highway 4 on Monday has been identified by the Contra Costa Coroner's Office as 62-year-old Joanne Fellows-Martin of El Sobrante.

Police said Fellows-Martin was driving west on Highway 4 just east of Willow Avenue at 5:28 p.m. when she drove her blue Hyundai Tucson SUV into the back of a Honda Odyssey van, California Highway Patrol Officer Peter Van Eckhardt said.

The driver of the Honda pulled over, but the SUV kept going and lost control, crashing through a guard rail and going about 100 feet off the roadway. Fellows-Martin was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy on the woman to determined whether a medical incident may have led to the crash was being performed Monday afternoon, a coroner's deputy said.

The driver of the Honda was uninjured.

Staff writer Erin Ivie contributed to this story. Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rdERH.